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A few years ago my bank send me a "debit card" in the mail that I hadn't requested, and started charging me a few dollars each month for not using it. It took me a couple of months to notice this, and when I did, I called and asked to have it cancelled. I was told that I could only do this in person. So, as soon as I had some free time on a weekday between the hours of 9 am and 3 pm, I went to the bank, waited almost an hour to see a customer service representative so that I could cancel my expensive, unrequested debit card, and as long as I was there, took the opportunity to withdraw all my money and close my savings and checking accounts.

I wasn't the only one who had a negative reaction to what I viewed as low level extortion; a plaintiff's law firm brought a class action against the bank because this practice was apparently in violation of at least one banking law. The bank quickly settled, and I got a refund check for about fourteen dollars a few months later.

So it was with great interest and alarm that I read this: Credit Card Industry Uses Legislature to Close Courts. Here is an excerpt:

"The credit card industry has just won a huge victory in Utah and put one over on cardholders across the country. Thanks to a new Utah law that was passed last month, credit card companies are allowed to add a term to their contracts by which individual customers waive their right to a class action.

..."This law will have huge implications beyond Utah. Lots of banks locate themselves in Utah (gee, I wonder why) and many more will do so now that this abominable law is on the books. So, all of their customers nationwide will be subject to this law. All the card companies have to do is send out those micro-print "change in terms" notices and after 30 days all their cardholders have waived their right to a class action. And, a finance company doesn't even have to do business in Utah to get this advantage. A finance company in Florida doing business with Floridians (or whomever) can just put a clause in the contract saying that Utah law governs, and voila, instant waiver of class action rights!" ...

Read the entire piece here.